Drains and handmade soap

[Marilyn Norgart]

in the last month I have had 2 people tell me they cant use handmade soap cuz it will plug up their drains. I have explained that once the lye and oil mix it creates a chemical reaction called saponification and the lye is no longer lye and the oil is no longer oil--it is soap. is there anything else or a different way I should be explaining it? I have also explained since I am working from it in the oil and lye stage I need to be careful of putting it down the drain until its saponified

 

[BattleGnome]

They could have hard water and the soap scum could be messing with things.

I have hard water and I know I have more issues if I let the last sliver of soap go down the drain with out extra rinsing. If you use a chelator you can explain why/how that would help with some of the pipe issues

 

[cmzaha]

When I was superfatting my soaps 5 and above, not using chelators I had a lot of drain problems. I cut my superfat down to 1-2% use chelators and cut my plumbing bills in half. My plumbers always told me it was soap scum, clogging my drains.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

ok thanks--I know the lady I talked to tonight said someone told her that--not that she experienced it and she was nervous to use my soap much--she is a neighbor and we have the same water.
So between store bought and handmade--handmade can cause issues?

 

[DeeAnna]

No, the difference is between lye-based soap and non-soap cleansers. Even commercial soap (Ivory for example) makes soap scum when used with hard water. Most commercial soap has a very low superfat, but it's still soap and it will still make soap scum. Non-soap cleansers based entirely on synthetic detergents (syndets) don't make soap scum. Combination bars that are a mix of soap and syndets make some soap scum but less than bars that are 100% soap.

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

thanks--I have been thinking about this. I lived for 18 years in a house with VERY hard water and never had any issues with the pipes and I used mainly handmade soaps. not saying it doesn't happen but maybe something else is going on with the pipes. so maybe if I am asked again I could address the soap scum issue a bit

 

[DeeAnna]

I also haven't had problems with my plumbing that I think could be caused by the use of soap for over 20 years. But there are lots of reasons why my plumbing might tolerate soap and another person's might not.

All of the sewer lines in my house are modern smooth plastic pipe, but other people have rougher cast iron or ceramic pipes installed decades ago. The sewer lines are sloped to drain properly in my place, but other sewer lines might not be sloped correctly due to age, damage, or improper installation. My water is softened with a whole house softener, but other people use hard water as-is. One family might go through several bars of soap per week while mine uses less than one. And so on....

 

[Millie]

Slightly nervous now cause I have ancient pipes and hard water. I'm thinking doing the soap dishes could cause the biggest problem.